Samuel Wootton Beall (June 16, 1807September 26, 1868) was an American

land speculator In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many ...

, lawyer, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

pioneer. He was the second

lieutenant governor of Wisconsin The lieutenant governor of Wisconsin is the first person in the line of succession of Wisconsin's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, removal, impeachment, absence from the state, or incapacity due to ...

(1850–1852) and lost his leg at the Battle of Shiloh, as a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

officer in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

Early life

Born in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...

, Beall graduated from

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

, in 1827.

Career

Beall moved to what is now

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea l ...

, in 1835, where he made a fortune in land speculation, and was admitted to the bar and practiced law. In the 1840s, he settled in Taycheedah. Between 1832 and 1856, Beall loaned the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians' delegations to Washington, D.C. some $3,000 for their expenses while they pursued claims against the federal government. He was promised one third of whatever they recovered, but when they won their case, he claimed and recovered only his actual expenditures. Beall was a delegate to both the first and second Wisconsin constitutional conventions from Marquette County, one of only six men to do so, as most members of the first convention declined to serve in the second. Beall was a Democrat and was lieutenant governor for

Nelson Dewey Nelson Webster Dewey (December 19, 1813July 21, 1889) was an American pioneer, lawyer, and politician. He was the first Governor of Wisconsin. Early life Dewey was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on December 19, 1813, to Ebenezer and Lucy (née ...

's second term as

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, from 1850 until 1852. During the American Civil War, he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel of the

18th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment The 18th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army in the western theater of the American Civil War. A large portion of the regiment was captured in their first battle, at Shiloh, but they wen ...

under Colonel James S. Alban. The 18th Wisconsin was organized in February 1862, proceeded to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

in March, and was thrown into battle at Shiloh a day after its arrival. Beall was wounded in the battle and his leg was amputated below the knee. Colonel Alban was killed, along with the Regiment's third-in-command, Major Josiah W. Crane. After recovering, Beall was second-in-command of a

prisoner of war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military priso ...

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 census ...

, where the prisoners nicknamed him "old peg-leg" and accused him of a pattern of repeated cruelty and abuse.

Death

After briefly returning to Wisconsin after the war, Beall moved to

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would b ...

, where, on September 26, 1868, he was shot following an argument with a newspaper editor. He was re-interred in 1907 at Forestvale Cemetery in Helena.

Family life

The son of Lewis and Eliza Beall, in 1829, he married Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, a niece of

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

, and they had seven children. His eldest daughter, Mary Morris Beall, was the second wife of Levi Hubbell, a prominent Wisconsin lawyer, judge and Democratic politician in early Wisconsin.

Electoral history

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 6, 1849

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beall, Samuel 1807 births 1868 deaths Lieutenant Governors of Wisconsin People murdered in Montana People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War Union Army colonels People from Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin Politicians from Green Bay, Wisconsin Politicians from Helena, Montana People from Montgomery County, Maryland Union College (New York) alumni Wisconsin Democrats Wisconsin lawyers 19th-century American politicians Burials in Montana 19th-century American lawyers